Happily Never After
by toolestrange
Summary: Regina is awoken to the harsh reality that there are things that will never happen, simply because of who she is. One Shot. Established Swan Queen.


A/N: This little gem popped into my mind between the lands of sleep and wake, rolled around in my head for a couple days, and here we are! Reviews are always appreciated; I'm constantly looking to improve my writing!

Unbeta'd – all mistakes are my own.

* * *

The organ music was building in Storybrooke's city hall, as the highly anticipated Swan-Mills wedding was about to begin. Regina stood around the corner, legs shaking and breath ragged, nervousness and excitement running across her face. This was the moment she'd been waiting for her entire life; marrying for true love, not status.

"Ready mom?" Henry looked up at Regina with a grin plastered across his face as he presented his arm for his mother to take. Ever since Regina and Emma had gotten together, Henry slowly warmed back up to her, until he started calling her 'mom' again.

She released a shaky breath. "Ready." She took Henry's arm and turned the corner as the music shifted into the wedding march. Regina had opted for a knee length white dress and extensions, while Emma was wearing a floor length off-white dress adorned with lace. Her blonde hair was in an updo and countless sparkled hairclips throughout; she looked every bit the princess she was born to be.

Regina couldn't take her eyes off of Emma's back as she made her way up the aisle, and was surprised that she didn't trip over her own feet. Henry let his arm fall to his side as he went to take his seat, but not before giving his mother's hand a light squeeze and a thousand-watt smile. Emma turned to face Regina, who gave her soon-to-be wife a look of pure adoration.

"I love you so much" she whispered as she took Regina's hand in her own.

Rumpelstiltskin was the only one qualified to wed the couple, so he stood at the altar in a navy suit with a look of indifference on his face. He wasn't affected by the true love radiating off the couple, and was still bitter that the Evil Queen got her happy ending, and he didn't.

He let out an aggravated sigh before starting. "We are gathered here today to celebrate one of life's greatest moments, to give recognition to the worth and beauty of committed marital love, and to add our best wishes to the words which shall unite Her Majesty Regina Mills and Her Majesty Emma Swan in holy matrimony." Emma glared at the man at the use of her formal title, but Regina gave her hand a light squeeze, and it was then she didn't care what he called her, just that she got to marry the love of her life.

"Do you, Emma Swan, take Regina Mills to be your lawfully wedded wife, through sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

She smiled and looked at the brunette holding her hand before turning back to face Rumpelstiltskin. "I do."

"And do you, Regina Mills, take Emma Swan to be your lawfully wedded wife, through sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

Regina's eyes filled with tears that spilled down her cheeks as she looked at the woman in front of her, and felt truly happy. Emma brushed her thumb lightly across her face, and gave her a reassuring smile.

"I do."

* * *

Regina woke up with tears on her face. For a moment she forgot the reality she was living in, and turned to the other side of the bed. "I'm so happy we got-"

Real life caught up with her and she ran her hand over the side of the bed that would never be filled again. Emma Swan, the love of her life, her true love, the Savior, was dead. It had been exactly one year, six months and seventeen days since she died, but it still felt like yesterday.

* * *

"Morning Sunshine." Emma smiled as she turned to face her girlfriend.

"I'm not a sunshine, you know I hate it when you call me that." Regina mumbled back.

"Alright." Emma lowered her voice dramatically. "Good morning bubbling pit of doom."

Regina smacked her arm playfully. "Not better!"

The couple got out of bed, and made their way downstairs to greet Henry who was already eating a bowl of cereal and reading the daily comics.

"Morning Sweetie." Regina placed a kiss delicately on his forehead.

"Ick." It was the same thing he said every morning, but smiled nonetheless. "Morning moms."

Emma sat down with her cup of coffee in front of Henry. "Anything interesting happening at school today?"

"Not as far as I know." He stopped to ponder for a moment. "Oh yeah, there's people coming to talk to us about the Boston trip coming up in April." He raised his eyebrows expectantly.

"We'll see Henry." Regina replied.

"You better get a move on if you don't want to miss your bus!" Emma gestured towards the door.

"Kay, have a good day!" Henry moved to hug each of his mothers in turn before rushing out of the mansion.

Emma turned to face the brunette. "It's our day off, we have the _whole _place to ourselves. Whadaya wanna do?" Emma wiggled her eyebrows.

"In time dear. I need to go pick up some groceries, back in a few!" Regina placed a chaste kiss on Emma's cheek before heading out of the house.

That gave Emma just the right amount of time to do something Regina never let her do… play Guitar Hero on the wii. She raced to the living room and turned on the device in record speed. She muttered to herself. "Single player, 'Livin on A Prayer', advanced. Alright Swan let's do this."

The song game on and her fingers danced furiously across the buttons. Emma finished the song and pumped her fist into the air when she realized she beat her high score.

* * *

Hours later, and Regina was still not home. Emma had turned of the wii about 45 minutes ago, opting to take a nap. "I wonder what's keeping her?"

Emma picked up her phone and fired off a quick text. "Coming home soon? Miss you! xx"

She threw the device onto the table in front of her and got up to make a milkshake. Making her way into the kitchen, she located the ice cream, milk, vanilla extract and cinnamon, placing it into a glass before realizing she needed to blend it first.

"I'm gonna try something." She thought to herself. She flicked her wrist in the direction of the glass, hoping to produce the perfect milkshake without using the blender. Instead the glass shattered and ice cream went everywhere. "Fuck!"

Emma mumbled under her breath as she cleaned ice cream off the window and cinnamon from the spaces between the tiles. Twenty minutes later and the kitchen was spotless. Forgetting her milkshake, she went back to the living room to retrieve the text message she assumed was there. When she was greeted with an empty inbox, a feeling of dread appeared in the pit of her stomach. Regina never took more than a couple minutes to respond to a text, even when she was asleep. Emma tentatively made her way to the mirror in the front hall.

She needed to know where her girlfriend was, but she had never tried using a mirror before and wasn't in the mood to clean up shattered glass. Emma focused her energy on Regina, and a purple mist clouded the mirror. When the fog lifted, she saw Regina tied up in a basement with a woman she'd never seen before circling her in what can only be perceived as a threatening way.

Emma ripped her gaze from the mirror and ran up to their shared bedroom. She retrieved Regina's hairbrush and a map of Storybrooke and placed them beside each other. Emma had no idea what she was doing, and just waved her hands over the objects furiously, hoping some neon arrow would show up telling her where Regina was being hidden. "Goddammit!" She exclaimed.

She paced the bedroom trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. "The warehouse!" Emma ran down the stairs, ripped open the door and sprinted to her bug. Slamming the door and turning on the engine, she tore down the driveway and towards the warehouse at the edge of town.

As she was driving, Emma left a quick message on Henry's voicemail. "Your mom's in trouble. I might not be home when you get there. We're at the warehouse but for god sakes don't follow me!"

Emma reached the warehouse and slid the heavy metal door open with the strength of ten men. Bounding down the stairs, she was greeted with an empty gray room, her girlfriend sitting tied to a chair in the middle.

"Regina!" Emma rushed forwards, her slim fingers making quick work of the knots.

"Emma you have to get out of here! She could be back at any moment!"

"I'm not leaving without you!" Emma took Regina's hand and yanked her out of the wooden chair. They made their way up the stairs and almost to the door when it slammed shut and the unknown woman emerged from the shadows.

"Oh how sweet." She said with venom in her voice. "The Savior came to rescue the Evil Queen. I think I'm gonna puke."

"She's not the Evil Queen you little bitch, what the hell has she ever done to you?!"

"She killed my true love. And sorry Savior, but now I'm going to kill yours." The woman lunged forward wielding a machete, swinging it furiously over her head.

"Like hell you will!" Emma pushed Regina out of the way, and her instincts kicked in. Doing something she'd never imagined, she reached inside the woman's chest and ripped out her heart.

Regina's mouth hung open as she realized what was happening. "Emma how did you do that?"

"I don't know!" She said flustered. "I didn't think I just did it!" Emma turned back to face the woman who was clutching at her chest.

"Now you listen and you listen carefully." Her eyes were blazing with anger. "You let us go, and I'll give you your life. You so much as make one move towards Regina and you're gone, understand?"

"You're bluffing." The woman said confidently. "You're good and pure, you wouldn't do that."

"Wrong answer." Emma's grip tightened on the woman's heart, and she started gasping for air.

Regina shrieked when she realized Emma was squeezing the glowing organ in her hand. "Emma no!"

Ashes felt from the blonde's hand and the woman fell to the ground dead.

A strong wind surrounded Emma, her hair turned dark from the roots and she collapsed. Regina made it to her just before she hit the ground, and held her girlfriend in her arms. Her skin turned ashen and the color left her eyes, making them a sickly gray. "What's happening to me?" She croaked.

"You tainted your true love magic."

"What does that mean?" She squeaked out. Emma started coughing, and green puffs of smoke came from her mouth. Henry ran in and his eyes took in the scene in front of him.

"Mom, what's going on?"

"Henry what are you doing here?"

"Ma called. She told me not to follow her but I ran all the way from school when I heard you were in trouble." He said between gasps. "Is she going to be okay?"

Regina shook her head sadly as tears fell from her eyes, her mouth unable to form the words to tell her son that his birth mother was almost gone.

Emma continued to cough until she let out a strained hiccup, her body went limp and her heart stopped beating. Regina started sobbing now, holding her girlfriend close to her chest, her body already losing warmth.

"Kiss her mom, bring her back!" Henry pleaded. "True love's kiss will break any spell!"

Regina looked up to look at her son sadly. "It was her true love magic that killed her dear. There's nothing I can do."

Henry was on his knees crying beside his mother. "Try?" He whispered.

Regina already knew it wouldn't work, but she tried for him. Regina's red lips met Emma's cold ones, and she desperately tried to breathe life back into her. "I'm sorry Henry."

"Do you want to be alone?" Henry asked between sobs.

"If that's alright." He nodded as he stood, leaving his two mothers alone.

Regina put Emma's body down on the ground, and magicked a bright blue dress onto her, one that matched the color of her eyes when they were still full of life. In a puff of smoke, they were in the Mills mausoleum, and Regina placed Emma into one of the empty glass coffins in the middle of the room. She set down a dozen red roses that would never die onto her lover's chest before closing the top.

It was then she realized. This _was_ a fairytale. And for that reason, the Evil Queen could never get her happy ending.


End file.
